RIP Tiger Barb....

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, another tiger barb is gone. This one looks to have been attacked by probably another barb. His neck was very red, and he was swimming in a helicopter spin, and looked to be starting to stiffen up. So I put him down. Other than that, all other fish are looking great, and eating lots.

 

[TCTFish]

I would suspect the eels being the culprit of the tiger barb attack before the other tiger barbs, especially with a bite mark (???) on it's neck. Eels are predatory...and that tank is overstocked with fish the eels can mack on...or at least try.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I doubt the fire eels. They were both in the cave on the other end of the tank.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Plus I never see them outside the cave during the day.

 

[TCTFish]

Eels do not stay in their caves 24/7, but also don't really need to move much in order to snack up fish. They lay in wait for prey. They typically bury themselves if they can, keeping only their heads poking out waiting for an unsuspecting morsal to swim by.

It would be a good idea to check water parameters just in case water quality had anything to do with it, but I still say the eels are most likely the ones in the tank to do that. Granted tiger barbs can get pretty fiesty with each other, but not like that.

 

[Zagz]

Geez Wolf, I am so sorry to hear that!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Oh, I know for a fact it wasn't the eels. And yes, they do stay in the cave all day, and roam the tank at night. And if the eels wanted a snack, there's 3 much smaller tiger barbs they would have no problem getting if they wanted. But it was one of the big ones, an inch and a half. When I first looked into the tank, the eels were in the cave on the left side of the tank. 5 minutes later, looked at the tank and the tiger barb was in a helicopter spin, with 4 other large barbs by him, and the eels were in the cave. So I know it wasn't them.

Not sure what kind of eels you have had exxperience with, but the fire eels aren't true eels, are very calm, and will feed out of my fingers. And don't appear to have any teeth either, as it's a fish and not a true eel. If it was the eels, I would have seen them outside the cave, which they were not. So my best guess is the bully albino tiger barb in there, almost 2 inches in size.

So I'm just going to keep a closer eye on things while I'm home. Fish are so much fun to watch, and see how they interact with other fish. it's so enjoyable, even you go through loosing a fish or 2. It's totally normal in the wild. but sometimes you still get so attached and don't want anything bad to happen to them.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Oh, and because I made the eels special caves for them and made them so that it will be a long time befor ethey outgrow them, they never bury themselves. They stay in one of the 2 caves during the day, never see them out until about 9pm when the lights go out. Then they roam the tank all night long. I know this because the tank is next to my bed, lol. Sometimes I wake up and roll over and just look into the tank with the ambient light from the windows and slider door and just watch the bala shark and the 2 eels roaming around. So cool.